08 Feb 2012

IFA National Livestock Committee Chairman Henry Burns said a Mercosur deal would be extremely damaging for European and Irish agriculture and especially for our important beef and livestock sector. An EU Commission analysis shows that a Mercosur deal would inflict losses of €7.8bn on the agriculture sector and he said the real losses at farm level would be much higher.

Henry Burns dismissed talk of an EU globalisation fund to offset Mercosur losses as a useless sticking plaster solution. He criticised the Commission for attempting to use the globalisation fund to conceal and distract from the real damage a Mercosur deal would inflict on European and Irish agriculture. He said the reality is there is no budget to come anywhere near meeting the multi-billion euro losses from a Mercosur deal.

The IFA livestock leader called on all MEPs to come out strongly against a Mercosur deal and in defence of the agriculture and food sector. He said the Mercosur deal must be rejected and spurious proposals regarding a globalisation fund must be dismissed.